The Applicant has developed a dispensing appliance for pre-cut wiping materials, which is the object of French patent 2931350. This appliance comprises a receptacle housing with a base plate, a lower horizontal wall and side walls with a hinged cover on a spindle. This appliance further comprises a hinged flap with respect to the walls of the housing in the lower part thereof, in accordance with the instructions of this patent. This flap is clipped to the said walls to enable it to be positioned in a vertical plane. The upper portion of the flap has a favourable curvilinear shape, while the lower portion comprises a central cut-out which is roughly semi-circular in shape, to enable the dispensing of the pre-cut wiping materials. The cover also has a central cut-out on its underside, similar to the one mentioned above.
The wiping material (M) used in this implementation is arranged in the form of a pre-cut strip that is wound into a coil, or in a pre-folded Z-position.
In accordance with the aforementioned French patent, the lower part of the appliance comprising the outlet for the material, has limit stops that respectively face each other on either side of the material strip by ensuring a tear in the strip format relative to the perforated line of the strip. Once the strip has passed between the wall in front of the flap and the side facing the cover, the pulling force will ensure a tear in the strip format, in relation to the rest of the coil or the stack of Z-folded materials due to the said limit stops. In accordance with this patent, it was clarified that the position of the said limit stops are adjustable on either side of the opening of the outlet of the material strip, by appropriate sliding means.
The Applicant has noted that during the dispensing of the material strip, the material strip creates a friction effect due to its shrinkage when passing through the limit stops. In principle, this is not at all inconvenient, as most users do not give importance to the appearance of the cut material strip since it is mostly used in a folded form, when using hand wipes, all purpose wipes, etc.
To address this problem, however, the Applicant has designed a new appliance which is the subject of the patent FR 2960760. At a glance, this appliance comprises a housing with a cover hinged and arranged on a spindle, and a hinged flap on the side walls of the housing. The material strip that is pre-cut or pre-folded in Z-form is able to bypass the upper curvilinear portion placed in the upper end of the flap. The material strip (M) thus passes in front of the flap and against the inner side of the cover. In the lower portion, the cover and the flap have a central cut-out for the passing and dispensing of the material strip. The flap and the cover have pairs of curvilinear complementary shapes arranged in the form of a rainbow, able to fit together partially when the material strip is passing through, and these curvilinear shapes being the ridges and grooves.
As part of this patent FR 2960760 and in order to minimize any effect of friction of the material when it is passing between the interlocked complementary shapes, it is expected that the material strip is unwound completely between the flap and the inner wall of the cover, without any lateral deformation, and when rolling out from both sides, the male-female complementary shapes are set according to the ridge-groove pairs on the flap and the cover, without any limit stops. These complementary shapes constituting grooves and ribs are numerous and they create a rainbow design, according to a range that is substantially greater than 180°. These shapes are arranged directly or with an additional space-reducing means between certain parts of ribs and grooves to enable and facilitate the tearing of a material strip format, when being pulled by the user.
This space reducing means is made up of protruding shapes appearing like teeth, intended to narrow the space between the grooves and the ribs when they are interlocked. This space reduction leads to the formation of the retaining zones of the material strip which further facilitates its ripping. These indentations or teeth are arranged in the lower end of the rainbow-shape obtained due to concentricity, and help in the tearing of the material, when pulled.
In a way, this material will pass between the complementary groove-rib shapes. The original objective of this invention to avoid friction with the material strip is not fully achieved, due to problems related to the thickness of materials that are found in the market and offered by various manufacturers.
In the French patent application 1058449, the Applicant has also developed a similar appliance for dispensing wiping materials that comprises a housing with a hinged cover, which closes when it is raised. This housing receives a module that is removable. This module is itself arranged with a flap facing the inner side of the cover, with the material strip passing between the flap and the inner wall of the cover.